Big Ten Network Heads to Buckeye Country
Cable Operator Buckeye CableSystem Reaches Carriage Deal with Regional Sports Service
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 5/15/2007 11:23:00 AM
Buckeye CableSystem, which serves more than 150,000 customers in Ohio and southeast Michigan, reached an agreement to carry the Big Ten Network when it launches this August.
Buckeye will carry the network in its expanded-basic level of service, and the operator will also carry its HD feed.
Buckeye vice president of sales and marketing Florence Buchanan believes the network, dedicated to showcasing the nation’s premier athletic and academic conference, will strike a chord with Ohio State and University of Michigan fans.
“We’re really very pleased that our customers will be able to get the Big Ten Network from the beginning,” Buchanan said in a prepared statement. “Our entire service area is obviously Big Ten country, and I expect the Big Ten Network to become a popular destination very, very quickly.”
Fox Cable Networks’ Big Ten Network will showcase a wide array of classic and current sports, including more than 350 live events, as well as original programming produced by the network and by the conference’s 11 member institutions.
This year, the network will offer more than 35 football games, over 105 regular-season men’s-basketball games, more than 55 women’s-basketball games, Big Ten Championships, more than 170 Olympic Games sporting events, coaches’ shows, a nightly studio show and over 600 hours of campus programming showcasing activities and accomplishments of some of the nation’s finest universities.
